Floyd Mayweather not Sophisticated Enough to Fight Manny Pacquiao in Macau says Bob Arum

Top Rank CEO, Bob Arum, believes Macau would be the perfect venue for a long-awaited showdown between Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao, but believes Mayweather's "lack of sophistication" means the city is likely to be overlooked.

After Mayweather recorded his 47th career victory in his rematch with Marcos Maidana on 13 September, 2014, talk of a clash with the Filipino fighter has intensified with Pacquiao recently claiming "serious negotiations" are underway.

"Of course it could be held in Macau (at the Cotai Arena)," Pacquaio's promoter Arum was quoted as saying by the South China Morning Post.

"Top Rank would be amenable to Macau but whether Mayweather would agree to have it in Macau, that's something I rather doubt because Mayweather is not the most sophisticated guy.

"In his mind, all Asians are the same, doesn't matter whether you're Chinese, Japanese or Filipino, you're Asian and you're the same. In his mind, fighting Manny in Macau would be like fighting Manny's home court."

Pacquiao is set to defend to his WBO world welterweight title against Chris Algieri in the Chinese city on 22 November, but attention has already turned to his next fight.

"We would certainly, Manny and Top Rank, view with a lot of favour the fight to be held in Macau. Manny wants the fight, I want the fight, and there are only one or two impediments," Arum added. "One is Mayweather and Pacquiao obviously have to agree to fight, and the second impediment is Algieri."

While Mayweather has been dismissive of claims made by the Pacquiao camp in recent weeks – accusing Arum of using his name to boost ticket sales for Pacquiao's meeting with Algieri later in the year – speculation of an overdue showdown between the two kings of the welterweight division refuses to go away.

Disputes over the split of the fight's purse and demands over Olympic-style random drug testing stopped what would have certainly been the largest-grossing fight in boxing history taking place four years ago.

While reports of serious negotiations have often been chalked up to conjecture, Arum recently claimed that another stumbling block had been cleared, suggesting the fighters' rival television networks – HBO (Pacquiao) and Showtime (Mayweather) were now keen to sign a contract.

And the promoter insists everything is now falling into place for a fight in 2015.

Arum continued: "Based on the willingness of both networks wanting to do a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight as I understand it from them, they have agreed on a format to do it. So that major obstacle has been cleared away. They have agreed at the highest level," said Arum.

"We have spoken with the network people. We have spoken to Showtime and we have spoken with HBO. We have not spoken with anybody on Mayweather's side. We understand from the Showtime people that they have talked to the Mayweather side.

"The drug testing, all of that stuff, those obstacles are gone away. Manny has had the biggest drug testing for his last three or four fights so he is now used to it and he has no problem with it. It is not an issue."